For carrying out pipe or sewer inspections, respectively, it is known to use so-called sewage inspection systems which may be introduced into a pipe or sewage pipe, respectively, and which may be moved within the sewage pipe. For cleaning of sewage pipes it is known to use cleaning devices, as for example, high pressure rinsing devices. The sewage pipe inspection systems as well as the cleaning devices may comprise sensors by means of which various measurement data may be collected during the inspection or during the cleaning, respectively.
The measurement data acquired has to be transmitted to a control means outside of the pipe system where it is evaluated and, if needed, further processed. For this, it is known to connect the sewage pipe inspection systems or cleaning devices, respectively, to the control means via a wire connection.
However, with respect to the data transmission via wire connections, the limited transmission length due to the limited length of the cable connection is disadvantageous. With this, a sewage pipe inspection system and a cleaning device, respectively, may only be introduced into a pipe or the sewage pipe, respectively, up to a certain length. A further disadvantage is that the cable connections in a harsh environment during pipe inspections or pipe cleaning, respectively, are subject to high wearing and can easily be damaged, potentially requiring a partial or complete replacement of the cable connections. Therefore, it is necessary to provide the cables or cable connections, respectively, with a stable and substantially wear-free coating which in turn entails a high additional weight of the cable.
A further substantial disadvantage is that the cable during a sewage pipe inspection or during a sewage pipe cleaning preferably needs to be de-coiled from or recoiled on to a cable drum. The de- or recoiling, respectively, of the cable specifically is problematic, if the cable at the same time has to be de- or recoiled with a high pressure pipe, which for example is a case with a sewage pipe cleaning device, which has to be supplied with rinsing water via a high pressure hose. This leads to increased setup times or working times, respectively, of the sewage pipe inspection or sewage pipe cleaning, respectively.
During the use of the sewage pipe inspection systems or sewage pipe cleaning systems, respectively, in explosion protected areas, moreover, it needs to be ensured that the cables are not damaged or cannot be damaged during the use, in particular, then when not only measurement data is transmitted via the cable to the control means, but rather also the inspection system has to be supplied with energy.
For performing sewage pipe cleaning it is known to at first clean or rinse, respectively, the pipe with a cleaning device, and after the cleaning, to inspect the sewage pipe with a sewage pipe inspection system to, on the one hand, check the success of the cleaning, and on the other hand, to provide a documentation of the cleaning for the ordering customer. With respect to this procedure, it is, however, disadvantageous that the cleaning of the sewage pipe, at first, has to be carried out “blind”. Badly or insufficiently cleaned sewage pipe sections can only be discovered during the subsequent sewage pipe inspection, which results therein that the pipe at least partially needs to be cleaned or rinsed, respectively, again. Due to the fact that the cleaning and the inspection need to be carried out separately, a complete sewage pipe cleaning is relatively time consuming and cost-intensive.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention, to at least partially avoid the disadvantages known from prior art, and to provide an inspection system, in particular, a sewage pipe inspection system as well as an inspection unit for an inspection system, by means of which on the one hand, a reliable and simple data transmission between the inspection unit and the control means, and on the other hand, a more efficient sewage pipe inspection and sewage pipe cleaning are enabled.